K E N 
KEN 
H.ebi'ew Text of the Old Teftament confidered ; Differ- 
tation the lecond.” In this volume, he vindicated the 
authority-and antiquity of the Samaritan copy ot the 
Pentateuch ; proved that the prefent Chaldee paraphrafe 
has not been taken from manufcripts fo.very ancient as 
has been commonly fuppofed, and that it has been in 
many places altered wilfully, in conformity to the He¬ 
brew text, where that text itfelf had been before corrupt¬ 
ed ; appealed to the fentiments of the Jews themfelvesj 011 
the fubje< 5 t of the Hebrew text, and gave a compendious 
liiftory of it from the clofe of the Hebrew canon down to 
the invention of printing ; and prefented an account °f 
all the Hebrew manufcripts then known, with a collati on 
of eleven Samaritan manufcripts, and a particular catalogue 
of one hundred and ten Hebrew manufcripts in Oxford, 
Cambridge, and the Britifli Mufeum. A collation of the 
Hebrew manufcripts was now loudly called for by the 
rnoft learned and enlightened friends of biblical learning; 
and in the fame year, Mr. Kennicott publifhed propofals 
for collating all the Hebrew manufcripts prior to the in¬ 
vention of printing, that could be found in Great Britain 
and Ireland, and for procuring at the fame time as many 
collations of foreign manufcripts of note as the time and 
money he fhould receive would permit. In a defign fo 
laudable and extenlive, he was fupported by a fubfcription 
and encouragement from crowned heads, public bodies, 
noblemen, clergy, and private gentlemen, of different na¬ 
tions, and different religions perfuafions, in a manner 
which had not been before equalled in the annals of lite¬ 
rature. Among his firft fubfcribers were the delegates of 
the Oxford prefs, who, with that liberality which has ge¬ 
nerally marked their charafter, gave him an annual fub¬ 
fcription of forty pounds. He now bent his whole pow¬ 
ers to complete his arduous undertaking ; correfponding 
with fome of the moll eminent charaflers in Europe ; 
availing himfelf of learned affiftants in collating manu¬ 
fcripts in foreign countries ; and furnifhing his patrons 
from time to time with an account of his progrefs. In 
the firlt year, the money received was about five hundred 
guineas; in the next it rofe to nine hundred; at which 
turn it continued ftafionary till the tenth year, when it 
amounted to a thousand guineas. While Mr. Kennicott 
was proceeding in this work, he was made keeper of the 
Eadcliffe library; admitted to the degree of doflor of di¬ 
vinity ; prefented to the valuable living of Mynhenyote 
in Cornwall, by the chapter of Exeter; and rewarded by 
a canonry of Chrift-church Oxford. 
In the year 1776, Dr. Kennicott was enabled to give 
the public the firft volume of his noble and beautiful edi¬ 
tion of the Hebrew Bible, in folio ; and in the year 1780, 
the fecond volume, which completed the work, made its 
appearance. To the whole is prefixed a general diflerta- 
tion, giving a full hiltory of the nature of the defign, and 
of the benefits refulting from it; and the truth of what 
he has advanced will be acknowledged by thofe who are 
acquainted with the fubjeft. There can be no doubt, but 
that great and frefh light will hence be thrown, not only 
upon the Old, but even upon the New, Teftament, by ’a 
clearer and more fatisfaflory explication of fome of the 
prophecies relating to the Mefiiah. It will contribute, 
alfo, to the clearing up of many other difficulties, which 
have perplexed commentators ; and what completes its va¬ 
lue is, that it affords a molt important preparation and af- 
fiftance for a new public tranflation of the Bible, or, at 
lead, a total revifion of the common verfion. The va¬ 
rious readings which are inferted in it are the refult of a 
collation of above fix hundred manufcripts : and, when 
the time and labour requisite for fuch an undertaking are 
confidered, together with the manner in which it is exe¬ 
cuted, it mull be acknowledged to refleft the higheft cre¬ 
dit on the integrity, diligence, judgment, and learning, of 
the editor, and to raife him to the higheft rank among bi¬ 
blical fcholars and critics. Such a work, likewife, reflects 
honour on the country, in which lb grand and important 
% defign was firft patronized, and carried into execution. 
Vol. XI. No. 785. 
6f>0 
Within two years of his death. Dr. Kennicott refigned his 
living in Cornwall from confcientious motives, on ac¬ 
count of his not having a profpeft of ever again being abie 
to vifit his parilhioners ; which difinterefted conduct de¬ 
fences to be recorded, in honour to his memory. He died 
at Oxford, after a lingering illnefs, in 1783, about the age 
of fixty-five. In private life, he fultained the charafter 
of a liberal, worthy, friendly, man ; unaffected, good-na¬ 
tured, cheerful, and facetious. At the time of his death-, 
he was employed in preparing for the prefs, “Remarks on 
feleft Pallages in the Old Teftament.” This work was 
undertaken by him foon after he had completed the pub¬ 
lication of his Bible, and continued, with his ufual atten¬ 
tion and care, while his faculties were capable of exertion. 
It is to be lamented, however, that he was abie to perfefl 
only a fmall part of his ufeful defign. To this part the 
editors, who publifhed it in 1787, have added, according 
to the author’s inftruftions in his will, whatever they 
found among his papers evidently deiigned for this work; 
and fuch of his hints and imperfedt (ketches, as may be 
ufeful to future commentators. Thele remarks are ac¬ 
companied by eight fermons, partly critical, and partly 
practical. Ency. Brit, and New Annual llegijler. 
KEN'NING, f. The aft of viewing ; of efpying ; of 
knowing. 
KEN’NINGTON, a village jn Surrey, and one of the 
eight precinfts of Lambeth. Here was a royal palace, 
which Edward III. made a part of the duchy of Corn¬ 
wall ; and here Edward the Black Prince relided. It 
was likewife the relidence of Richard II. when prince of 
Wales. In 1396, the young queen Ifabella was conveyed, 
amid a prodigious concourfe of people, from Kennington 
to the Tower; and it was the occafional relidence of 
Henry IV. VI. and VII. The manor was firft farmed out 
by Henry VIII. Camden fays, that in his time there 
were no traces of this palace. It was probably pulled 
down, after it ceafed to be the occafional royal relidence, 
and a manor-houfe built on the fite, which was occupied 
by Charles I. when prince of Wales. In a lurvey, taken 
in 1656, this manor-houfe is faid to be “fmall, and an old 
low timber-building, fituate upon part of the foundation of 
the ancient manfion-houfe of the Black Prince, and other 
dukes of Cornwall after him, which was long ago utterly 
ruined, and nothing thereof remaining but the ltablei'180 
feet long, built of flint and Hone, and now ufed as a barn.” 
At this time, therefore, not only the manor-houfe, but, 
what Camden could not find, the Long Barn, (as it was 
then called,) was vifible; and the latter, in 1709, was one- 
of the receptacles of the poor diftreffed Palatine Protef- 
tants. In 1786, in digging near this bafn for a cellar, 
fome fpacious vaults of ftone were difeovered, the arches 
of which were cemented by a fubftance harder than ftone 
itfelf. The manor belongs to the prince of Wales, as 
part of the duchy of Cornwall. The Long Barn was 
pulled down in 1795 ; and on the fite are erected fome 
houfes, which form a continuation of Park-place, Ken- 
nington-crofs. The road, by Elizabeth-place, to Lam- 
beth-butts, is ftill called Prince’s Road, and was fo deno¬ 
minated in all ancient writings; having been the road by 
which the Black Prince came to his palace, when he 
landed at the flairs at Lambeth. Kennington gave the 
title of earl to William duke of Cumberland, Ion of 
George II. Kennington has improved much of late years 
in appearance and refipedlability. 
Kennington-common, on the road to Clapham, was. 
long the common place of execution for the county of 
Surrey ; this nuifance has however been removed to the 
top of the county-gaol, in Horfemonger-lane. Some of 
the rebels, who were tried by the lpecial commiffion in, 
Southwark in 1746, fuffered here; but the common is now 
nearly furrouhded with modern refpectable houfes. Here is 
a bridge, formerly called Merton Bridge, becaule the canons 
of Merton-abbey had lands for the purpofe of repairing it. 
KENNONCHE'QUE. See Masouei.onge. 
KEN'NOMICK (Great),a navigable river of the north- 
8 H weft 
